As the seconds ticked away in game 4 between Pittsburgh and Ottawa, in fact, maybe as the seconds ticked away in game 2, the question that is now on everyone’s tongue first reared its ugly head: What went wrong with the Ottawa Senators?
It’s a question whose answer has so many factors that to throw out just one answer would be wrong.
Here are the issues I feel contributed to Ottawa’s demise:
1) Reading your own press clippings. It’s something athletes are told to never, ever do. And some players will tell you that they don’t read the papers or listen to the radio. But that statement, for the most part, is false. The Senators got off to a 15-2 start and some people were whispering about the Sens being on the same level with the 76-77 Habs who lost only 8 games all season. And I think that to a certain degree, the players may have bought into that, no matter how little.
2) Discipline. This is a team that has discipline issues and has had them for a long time. And who paid the price for the lack of accountability? John Paddock did. But who else could have been blamed? Here’s a list: John Muckler, Bryan Murray, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, Wade Redden, Andrei Meszaros, Eugene Melnyk. And each of these men contributed to the slide that this team experienced.
Ray Emery: Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, but for good reason. Problems with telling time. Can’t read an itinerary sheet. Needs defensive driving lessons. Fights with teammates. Dogs it in practice. Seems to me Ray was less of a distraction when he was eating cockroaches on a bet. Paddock on Emery: “I should have put him off the ice some of those practices when he wasn’t working.” (Canadian Press article)
Bryan Murray: I know he has said that he did not want to interfere with John Paddock’s coaching when it came to issues like Ray Emery, but it seems to me, given Paddock’s comments after being fired, that Murray let things slide with Razor even when he was the coach of the team. “The tardiness has been there for the last couple of seasons. I don’t think there was any change in that really, how he was handled or how we handled him.” (John Paddock, from Canadian Press article). But rather than address it, it seems like the thought was to sweep it under the carpet. Well, it looks now like one good sweep led to another.
John Muckler: Was the boss when all was going well, at least in the standings and wins column. But there is the underlying issue of discipline. And maybe he refused to interfere with Murray’s coaching the way Murray stayed away from Paddock. But ulitimately, someone needed to speak up early on and Muckler did not seem to do that.
Wade Redden and Andrei Meszaros: Two defenceman who, whenever they touched the puck, made me nervous. They looked either half asleep or just disinterested. Meszaros was terrible with his defensive positioning and couldn’t seem to cover an offensive player if his life depended on it. And Redden, a player who at one time was tagged as a future superstar, has struggled for a couple of seasons now and maybe there is truth to the old “change of scenery” theory and maybe Redden can experience it first hand.
Heatley and Spezza: Wilted like a flower in winter. No “umphh”. Heatley displayed no heart. Just a big mouth when it came to complaining to the officials and Sidney Crosby. At least Spezza looked disapointed after all was said and done. I wonder if Darren Pang is right when he suggests that moving one of those guys might be a move to consider this off-season.
Eugene Melnyk: Well as they say, the buck stops here. Mr. Melnyk has done many great things for Ottawa and its hockey fans. None the least is dumping millions of dollars into the club to keep it in the Canadian capital. However, he now must sit down with Bryan Murray and demand that hard hockey decisions be made. And it sounded to me, given Bryan Murray’s postgame comments last night, that he is going to do just that: “Some of them will have a decision to make on their own and I’ll make the decision for a few of them.”
And last but not least, please do not overlook just how much better the Pittsburgh Penguins have been this season. There is a hunger and desire that you need to be a winner. They played bigger, tougher and more disciplined than Ottawa and that will win everytime. And don’t forget Marc-Andre Fleury and the solid goaltending he’s provided so far.
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